Loose Ends
by Lena86
Summary: The question of Rose, River and the Doctor's name. Ten/Rose fluff


_Author's Note: Because I hate loose ends. Tag to Burning up a Sun (.net/s/6263307/1/Burning_Up_a_Sun) - because I can't leave well enough alone._

* * *

The Doctor was bored. The marketplace was dusty and crowded and Rose had wandered off the moment his back was turned. The Doctor supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. In the seventy-seven years, nine months and twenty-six days since she'd reappeared in the TARDIS she'd never lost her penchant for wandering off at the first chance she got.

Mind you, he mused as he picked up an especially sparkly - what was this?_ Oo a fuse! _- from a nearby stall, she was much easier to find these days. If she wanted to be found.

Today didn't seem to be one of those days. He sighed, putting the sparkly fuse back down - the TARDIS would never approve. He'd been looking for her for over an hour now, with no sign, and they really needed to meet Jack. Partly because they hadn't seen him in over a year, and partly because the Doctor was starving and Jack had promised he'd buy dinner.

He was toying with the idea of just standing in the town square and shouting her name until she heard and came to berate him for making a scene when he spotted her. She was walking along between the stalls just a few metres away, unable to see him due to the collection of brightly coloured scarves on the stall between them. He watched her for a moment, basking in the realisation of Jackie Tyler's last pronouncement. That was Rose, on a planet thousands of years into her relative future, over 100 years since her birth, not looking a day over twenty-five but still _so very human. _Her hair caught the light of the sunset making it seem golden.

'Rose! Rose Tyler!' The shout startled the Doctor out of his reverie.

He looked around. Rose had paused, looking at a stall littered with... somethings. And bearing down on her was... No. Couldn't be. _No..._

But it was. River Song was striding towards Rose. The Doctor contemplated stepping out from behind the stall and heading her off. Maybe taking Rose's hand and running back to the TARDIS... Dinner and Jack be damned.

'Rose!' River said, sounding almost relieved as she reached Rose's side.

Rose turned, an enquiring look on her face. 'Sorry. I was miles away, there.' She smiled disarmingly. 'Do I know you?'

River smiled back. 'Not yet. But you will.' She looked Rose up and down. 'You haven't changed a bit. Mind you, I don't suppose you would, really.'

Rose looked confused. 'I-'

'Professor River Song,' River said, shaking her hand. 'I'm very sorry but I can't stop to explain. I have an appointment in a library and I need something from you.'

Rose still wore a confused expression. 'I haven't got a library card,' she said feebly.

River smiled gently. 'I need the Doctor's name, Rose.'

The Doctor tensed, staring at the scene before him. He'd wondered, occasionally over these last few decades, just how River Song came by his name. Now he was wondering how she knew Rose's. How she would come to know both of them.

'I'm sorry,' Rose said, sounding like she meant it. 'I can't give you that.'

River watched her carefully. 'It's to save his life. He has to trust me the first time he meets me - this is how it happens.'

'What?'

River looked frustrated, the air of ultimate confidence she seemed steeped in fading slightly. 'You must be used to running into people you haven't met yet that've known you their whole lives?'

Rose tilted her head to one side. 'Yeah...'

'I'm one of those people,' River said.

'I'm sorry,' Rose said, turning to leave.

River grabbed her arm. 'The first word he ever said to you was run,' she said desperately.

Rose shrugged her off and walked away from her.

'You're pregnant!' River shouted.

Rose stopped dead. The Doctor could see her chest rising and falling as she drew in deep breaths. Beyond that he wasn't aware of much else, other than the thundering of his hearts in the sudden silence. He flicked his eyes over Rose, examining her for any telltale signs of pregnancy that he'd missed.

'You haven't told him yet,' River continued, her voice softer. 'Not if I got the date right. You were going to tell him yesterday, but then you were involved in that civil war and there wasn't time.'

'And he would have locked me up in the TARDIS,' Rose said quietly.

River nodded. 'Which would have gotten him killed.'

Rose turned, finally. 'If you know us so well, why'd you have to ask me? Why now? Why not just ask him – the him you know?'

'Because I die. In the library,' River said, her tone practical, devoid of emotion. 'I couldn't be told what I needed until the last possible moment and it has to come from you, to complete the cycle. You - the you I know - you remember telling me. Here and now.'

Rose stared at her, weighing her up. Finally, she said, 'I can't give you all of it.'

River smiled at that. 'No,' she said, the warmth returning to her voice. 'It belongs to you. I just need enough to make him trust me. To save him and Donna Noble.'

Rose nodded. The Doctor watched as she leaned towards River and whispered the name written on her neck into the other woman's ear. The name he'd only ever told her without words. He knew she'd pronounced it perfectly. After all, River had. So many years ago. He shivered, cold despite the long coat.

Rose leaned back, studying River's face. 'This baby-'

River smiled again. 'Is fine. Will be fine. Wonderful, actually. Bit of a handful, but loves his or her auntie River.'

'His or her?' Rose asked, sceptical.

'Spoilers!' River said, winking.

Rose rolled her eyes. 'So... He'll be with Donna?' River nodded. 'Wish you could tell him you spoke to me.'

'Me too,' River said, her eyes sympathetic.

Rose looked thoughtful. 'Since you can't... Wind him up a bit,' she said, her eyes glinting mischievously.

River grinned then. 'Count on it.' She sighed. 'And now I have to go. Goodbye, Rose Tyler.'

Rose's expression became solemn. 'Good to meet you, River Song.'

River smiled sadly and turned to go.

'River!' Rose called, thrusting her hand into her jacket pocket.

River turned, an interested expression on her face. Rose rushed forward, her hand sliding out of her jacket pocket and pressing into River's. The other woman looked surprised, then pulled Rose into a hug.

Rose watched until River was out of sight. The Doctor walked around the scarf stall and wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her head.

'I gave her that sonic screwdriver I found,' Rose said, the barest trace of defiance in her tone in case he thought she'd done the wrong thing.

The Doctor nodded. It made sense. The idea to give River the sonic screwdriver hadn't been the product of many careful years of planning on his part, but a split-second instinctual decision made by Rose. 'You saved her life,' he said softly.

'Really?'

'More or less,' he said, unable to lie to her. 'Her mind anyway.'

'That's good. She seemed... Like a good person to save.'

The Doctor chuckled. 'My Rose. Can't even go shopping without saving lives.'

He sensed her amusement at that and held her tighter. Donna had assumed River was his future wife, he knew. It had been a possibility. He'd said himself that there was one time he could tell someone his name. But that wasn't strictly true. There were two. One resulted in spousal attachment, the other... The other required that he be dying and require the last rites. Having seen River with the sonic screwdriver he'd been leaning toward the latter possibility, if he was honest.

He kissed the top of Rose's head. 'You should have said something to me.'

'I'm sorry.'

'No, you're not,' he said, knowing he sounded petulant and not caring very much.

'No, I'm not,' she confirmed. 'I was going to tell you yesterday, but then there was that whole thing... and you just _had_ to get involved,' she rebuked, but he could hear the smile in her voice. 'Then we were meeting Jack.'

'Could have dropped it into conversation.'

'Can we talk about this later,' she said, her tone suddenly bright as she broke into a smile. 'Jack's coming.'

\/\/

The Doctor sat alone in the console room, feet up on the console as he stared, unseeing, at the time rotor.

Rose entered the room and walked over to him, tapping his legs so he would swing them down and she could stand between them, leaning back against him.

Dissatisfied with this, he turned her gently until she was looking at him. 'Are you ok?'

'Of course I am,' she said.

'I mean... Are you happy?' he hated the uncertainty in his voice, knowing it would probably worry her.

'Are you?'

He grinned at her. 'Oh yes.'

She smiled back, giving him his answer without speaking. 'What I don't understand,' she said thoughtfully, 'is how? After all this time I just figured we were... You know. Incompatible.'

The Doctor didn't need to think about it. He could pinpoint the moment it had happened. When he'd snapped and the careful control over the primal urge to procreate that came with being a Time Lord had snapped.

_She was gone. Rose was gone and at best, he had only hours left himself. He was dimly aware of explosions somewhere to the left of him. When she reappeared suddenly, covered in blood and dirt, her jacket torn, he stared at her for a moment, sure he was dreaming. It had been days since they'd been separated. Since she'd been taken from him. He stood, walking over and taking her hand, walking out of the building like nothing had happened._

_Neither of them spoke as they stepped over people who were either unconscious or dead. They reached the TARDIS, he unlocked the door and allowed Rose to enter the ship first, stepping through after her and closing the door. _

_He stood just inside the door for a moment, watching her carefully. She stood at the top of the ramp, her eyes studying him intently. They'd thought she was a goddess. Rose had laughed it off, but the Doctor had watched proceedings closely. This was the ninth planet they'd visited with the myth of the golden goddess. The first where they'd held the belief that sacrificing the avatar was the best way to please the goddess. _

_He walked up the ramp, heading for the console. As he walked past Rose she brushed her hand against his, catching his eye and smiling gently. He nodded, unable to smile against the tenseness of his jaw. She dropped her eyes and mumbled something about seeing him later before heading out of the console room. He kept his eyes on the time rotor as he ran his hands over the controls. _

_A few minutes later he found her in the infirmary. She was sitting on the bed with her shirt off and her back to the door, with only the bedside lamp illuminating the room. He knew she hated the harsh main light of the infirmary. As he watched she lifted a flannel out of a bowl of water and twisted her arm, trying to run the damp cloth over what looked like a burn on her shoulder. _

_He walked into the room, coming up behind her and taking the cloth from her hand and gently brushing it over the burn, wincing at her indrawn breath. 'Sorry.'_

_She shook her head, reaching over her shoulder and pulling her hair away from the back of her neck, stopping the blonde strands getting caught up in the flannel. He kept his gaze on the mark on her shoulder as he dipped the cloth in the bowl again and rang it out. He finished cleaning the burn and dropped the flannel on the tray beside the bowl of water. He brought his hand back up, resting it on her unblemished shoulder, brushing his fingers lightly over her skin and down her arm. _

'_What happened?' he asked, not really wanting the answer, but needing to know none the less. _

_She shrugged, hissing as the movement pulled at the burn on her shoulder. 'Apparently I'm not goddess material,' she said dryly. _

'_Oh, I don't know…' he said, sliding his arms around her waist. 'I think-' he broke off as his fingers came into contact with something. 'What's that?'_

'_Nothing,' Rose said, folding her arms over her chest as he moved around the bed until he was standing in front of her. Gently he prised her arms away from her waist until he could examine her. There was a deep cut just under her ribs._

_He glanced up at her, dark eyes narrowed. 'What-'_

'_It looks worse than it is,' she insisted. _

_He didn't respond, his lips set into a thin line as his jaw tensed. He turned away from her and picked up the bowl, emptying it into the sink and refilling it with clean water. Wordlessly he turned back to her, snatching up a clean flannel and dropping it into the bowl. Abruptly realising he was still wearing his overcoat he shrugged out of it and threw it in the direction of one of the trolleys, which skidded away under the weight. The Doctor ignored it and walked back to Rose, pulling his glasses out of his pocket and putting them on. _

_He bent down in front of Rose, keeping his eyes on her injury, well aware that she could see the muscle in his jaw twitching. She watched him as he cleaned the wound, then sealed it with the sonic screwdriver, not speaking the entire time. Then he stood back from her, dropping the cloth into the bowl and walking back over to the sink, setting it down and leaning against the counter. _

_Rose hopped down off the bed and walked over to him, running her fingers lightly over the wound he'd just sealed. 'Thanks,' she said softly, coming to a stop just in front of him._

'_No problem.' He wanted to reach for her, to pull her body against his and kiss breathless. To __**feel**__ her. He crossed his arms over his chest to keep them still, disapproving of his own desperation._

_Rose looked at him critically, then stretched up and kissed him on the cheek before turning back to the bed and gathering up her shirt and the jacket she'd been wearing. 'Everything was all right until I got back to the TARDIS,' she said, confusing him._

'_What?'_

'_They couldn't find me,' she said, turning and leaning on the gurney. 'But I got back here and you weren't here, so I-'_

'_You came back,' he said, his voice low. 'You got away, made it back to the TARDIS, but came back for me.'_

_She shrugged, 'Didn't look like you were going to get away on your own this time.'_

'_You should have come inside the TARDIS and waited!' he snapped, surprising himself with his sudden outburst._

_Apparently, Rose was surprised too. She dropped the shirt to the ground and bent to pick it up, but he got there first, grabbing the thin material and staring at it. It was covered in dirt and blood. Rose's blood. _

'_Doctor-' she began, her tone soothing even as her eyes regarded him warily. _

_He looked up from the shirt, meeting her eyes for the briefest of seconds before he moved towards her, grasping her chin roughly with his free hand and tilting her head back. He kissed her hard, his hand sliding around to cup the back of her head even as he dropped the torn and bloodied shirt to the floor and held her body against his, his hand pressing into the small of her back. _

_He could have lost her. He'd thought he had lost her, back there. But she'd made it away. All the way back to the TARDIS - back to safety – and she'd come back. For him. _

_Her mouth tasted tinny, like blood and the other flavour he'd come to associate with the Bad Wolf._

_He picked her up, depositing her on the gurney and moving to stand between her legs, barely noticing as she pushed at his jacket, dropping it to the floor behind him. _

'Doctor?' Rose – the Rose standing with him in the TARDIS – called.

'Sorry – I was…'

'Was that when?' she asked, looking up at him seriously.

She'd seen, then. Blindsided by the shock of her pregnancy he'd forgotten that they were standing too close – with far too much skin-to-skin contact – for him to keep his head private. He smiled down at her. 'We- Time Lords – we didn't reproduce sexually.' She raised an eyebrow at him. 'We _could_,' he went on, 'we just didn't.' He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. 'After you came back for me, I… I was-'

'You were afraid,' she said. A statement, not a question. He nodded. She smiled, 'What was it you said to me before? About most species and mortal danger?' He smiled back and nodded in answer to the unvoiced question. 'So it was instinct, yeah?'

'Yeah.' He looked over her shoulder at the time rotor again.

'But you're happy?'

He looked back at her, his expression serious. 'Yes. I am.'

'Well then,' she said. 'That's good.'

He nodded. 'Very good.' She nodded once then turned around, resting her back against him and pulling his arms around her waist. 'Brilliant, even,' he continued '_Molto bene_. _Incroyable.' _He leaned forwards, breathing the words into her ear. 'Fantastic.'

'Doctor,' she said, turning her head so she could see him. He raised his eyebrows at her questioningly. She smiled sweetly. 'Shut up,' she said, and then she kissed him.


End file.
